Drones are buzzing over Helsinki’s West Harbor this week, but they’re not there for stunning skyline shots. Instead, they’re keeping a close eye on traffic.
From September 17 to 19, six drones operated by the City of Helsinki’s innovation arm, Forum Virium Helsinki, are recording traffic flows around the harbor during the busiest hours — when cruise ships bring in and take out thousands of passengers. The goal? To understand how congestion forms and how people move through one of the capital’s busiest districts.
The drones are capturing much more than cars and buses. Their wide-angle views cover pedestrians, cyclists, scooters, trams, and even trucks, offering a full picture of how different modes of transport interact. According to project leaders, this variety of data is key to improving connections between transport options and making rush-hour chaos less painful.
Instead of simply storing the footage, Forum Virium is turning it into insight. The anonymized data feeds into a traffic simulation model powered by artificial intelligence. This model can test new traffic management strategies and predict where problems might happen before they actually occur.
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“The key challenges in the area are related to occasional congestion and ensuring sustainable mobility, such as walking, cycling, and public transport,” explains Eero Jalo, senior project manager at Forum Virium Helsinki. “The data obtained from the flights helps us develop new AI-based tools that can manage traffic more intelligently.”
This week’s flights mark the third and final round of drone observations under the EU-funded ACUMEN project, which promotes sustainable mobility across Europe. Previous studies in 2023 and 2024 have already revealed patterns in the harbor’s traffic, but this year’s data should complete the puzzle by capturing conditions during peak shipping times.
Of course, flying drones in a busy city isn’t without risk. Jalo notes that thunderstorms or radio interference could force some flights to be canceled. Still, if successful, the results could help Helsinki model smarter, greener traffic solutions that benefit everyone, from daily commuters to cruise ship passengers.
For now, the harbor serves as a real-world testbed for the future of urban mobility. If the experiment pays off, don’t be surprised if drone-assisted traffic monitoring becomes a familiar sight in cities well beyond Finland.
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